Second Chances & New Beginnings: A New Start

Chapter Seventeen

I didn't really pay much attention to what happened next as I thought about what I could have done differently but the truth of the matter was that she'd made her fate and choices obvious at the very beginning. This was the way that she'd wanted to go out, and for her having me there at the end was probably an amazing comfort, though it tore a hole in my heart so vast that I wondered how I was ever going to fill it.

When O'Flannigan reached the command-post where I'd originally been guiding my team Vivian charged up, her green blazing with fury, "What the hell were you thinking?" she almost screamed as she grabbed me into her arms tightly.

"You wouldn't understand momma," I replied, not doing anything to hide the fact that I was still crying at the loss that I'd just suffered. "She was..." I choked, before she looked down and paused realizing that I was crying and didn't need to be yelled at but rather held and comforted as my grief at Mel's death was tearing through my soul like a wrecking ball studded with spikes.

Momma seemed to relax before sitting down on a camp style chair and hugged me to her breast. "Shhh kitten, I'm here." She murmured softly rocking me in her arms gently with her muzzle between my ears.

Those gestures let me relax and let full vent to my grief before I softly said, "Momma... can you please... necklace." I sobbed out holding the bloody necklace out so that she could see it.

She paused for a moment before taking it from me and gently reconnecting the clasp before placing it around my neck. "You loved her so, much didn't you?" She asked softly though I knew that I really didn't have to respond to that question I still found myself nodding the affirmative.

"She was my sun, my moon, my great lioness of the hunt." I stated while trying to control my tears.

"Daren Ross." Came a voice and I turned my head to look and I could see two figures, one taller than the other dressed in black, and the other was dressed in a soft blue dress.

"Yes?" I asked, trying to blink the tears from my eyes. "You did it, the one that we came to rescue is alive because of what your team achieved." The voice, who I recognized as Seamus said before the figure in the blue dress came over to where I was sitting with momma.

"Is he going to be okay?" Amanda's clear, soft voice asked before she placed a hand on my back, "Is he hurt?" She continued.

"No, I don't think any of this is his sweetheart," Vivian stated softly, "He isn't injured right now, but inside he is deeply hurt dear. Somebody that he's always loved isn't with us anymore and that hurts more than any person can possibly understand." She finished softly moving me slightly before gently pulling Amanda into a place on her lap beside me.

"Who is gone?" Amanda asked before closing her eyes and taking a soft sniff before bursting into tears of her own, "Mama Mel!" She almost screamed out hugging both me and momma as tightly as she could, sobbing in absolute desolation at the loss that was tearing through her as much as it was tearing through me.

I joined her in sobbing and I could feel my chest aching from the pain in my heart that I couldn't express or contain and together we fell asleep expressing the absolute loss of one who meant so much to us.

The light seeping through the curtains was that of late morning when I finally came too, and I took a moment to realize that I wasn't alone in my bed. Hugging me tightly was the form of Amanda and I could see that in the dim light of my room that she was only wearing a goodnight, and the fur around her eyes was matted, much like the fur around my eyes, from the tears that we'd shed the night before.